Cats overwhelm homeowner in Johnstown
JOHNSTOWN, N.Y. (NEWS10) - A local cat rescue group is looking for homes for more than 40 cats that were found at a Fulton County home. But one advocate says finding places for the cats is more difficult than other animals.
Ed Moore has lived in his house his entire life and he says it has become completely overrun and unmanageable by stray and abandoned cats. So bad that local cat adoption and advocate groups are stepping up to assist.
“I had a caller alert me to a bunch of kittens up by the road, cats getting hit and killed. Within minutes, I saw kittens everywhere, pregnant cats. I have got injured cats here, at least twenty kittens that we counted and 22 adults, stopped counting at 22,” said Heather Capano with the Friends of the Forgotten Cat Rescue Inc. of Johnstown.
Moore tells me he has been feeding the cats for decades and is attached to some of them.
“I don’t mind a couple being around. The outside cats and the this and that, it gives you something to take care of. But I mean when it gets to be that many, I mean it’s overwhelming,” said Moore.
It became overwhelming when he just couldn’t keep up.
“As far as them being sick, if I wanted to get them spayed, I can't afford to do that,” said Moore.
“This is not going to cost you one penny,” responded Angel Mariani, private cat rescuer and advocate.
Yet, Animal Law professor at Hudson Valley Community College, Valerie Lang Waldin, says this could have been avoided if cats were given fair treatment under the law. Unlike dogs, she says law enforcement and municipalities are not required to intervene.
“By definition, they are companion animals just as dogs are and deserve the same legal protection as dogs are afforded,” said Waldin.
Local groups that care for stray and abandoned cats are stepping up to help. But they need help in finding foster homes and agencies to help take care of the cats.
NEWS10 has reached out to the Montgomery County SPCA to see if they can take any of the cats, but they are closed on Monday and Tuesdays, and are awaiting their response.